Thursday, June 26, 2014

My colleague Loren and I should definitely be plot consultants for superhero movies. At lunch we broke down the Thor movies, and came up with our version for the plot for the next one.

In our opinion, Loki needs to have a better motivation than sibling rivalry and a desire to take over the world. Ho hum.

The basic problem with Thor movies is that despite having a brilliant cast with excellent special effects and great directing, we don't really identify with Thor's home of Asgard, which is kind of a drinking establishment for super-powered aliens. Why is it a cause for worry if Loki takes over the place or leaves it for old geezer Odin? The traditional cliché bad guy motive of wanting to take over the world (either Earth or Asgard) doesn't seem to fit Loki.

Here's what Loren and I came up with for the next Thor movie:

Loki was badly humiliated after having been beat up by the human Bruce Banner, aka the Incredible Hulk. The whole thing was witnessed and recorded by Heimdall, keeper of the Rainbow Bridge, so other Gods laugh their asses off when they see it on Asgard youtube.

He resolves that this will never happen again, and decides that he must find a way to infuse himself with the same gamma ray energy that transformed Bruce Banner into the Hulk.

Loki also despises Thor for being too obedient and too boring. Chaos, he reasons, is the only hope for the Asgardians to save themselves from stagnation and eventual oblivion. This is another reason why he needs the Hulk. Loki worships chaos, and believes that life is not worth living unless there is a certain amount of chaos present. The orderly path selected by Odin and his straight arrow son Thor leads to stagnation and spiritual emptiness and ultimately death. Yet Loki realizes that the Hulk seems to love chaos almost as much as Loki.

Thus Loki decides that, having been rejected by the Asgardians, he will create a new race of DemiHulks on Earth. He will use his godlike intelligence with the help of earth scientists to create a hybrid Asgardian and human race, and to reproduce and refine the gamma rays that changed the Hulk (talk about GMOs!). He chooses earth subjects and modifies their DNA with Asgardian gene sequences. For his friends, he wants other chaos worshippers: Mixed Martial Arts fighters, athletes, drug addicts, Hollywood sex symbols, musicians....anyone who has thoroughly indulged the sensual chaotic side of life. Loki realizes that the genetically modified race he is creating might eventually exceed his own power, but he doesn't care. Better to create a world in which chaos is present to drive change rather than be the ruler of a sterile and deadly boring universe.

Can the Green Hulkster Gamma Energy change Loki and make him more powerful than Thor and the Hulk combined? Soon Loki creates a gang and as a test kills some Asgardians he doesn't like and forces the rest to retreat from Asgard. Others, including Thor's ex-girlfriend Sif (jilted in favor of wimpy human Jane Foster for reasons that never made sense), decide to join Loki. Moreover, Sif wishes to kill Jane Foster as one side agenda. Now it is time to track down the Hulk. But while all this is going on, Thor and Jane Foster find out that something is up. They try to join forces with the Hulk, who is very very angry. So angry he goes in for a second dose of gamma radiation. Thor and Jane are not convinced this is a great idea, but...

You want a piece of HULK? HULK SMASH!!As for Jane Foster, the scientist also prepares a surprise for Loki and Sif.

What kind of surprise? Maybe something like this.

Now everyone is ready to do battle. Serious thunder, serious smashing. Casualties on both sides. Intrigue as Loki fools Thor by appearing to be Jane Foster, and then fools him again into thinking that the real Jane is Loki. Thor might thus unknowingly injure or even kill Jane. Oh dear, that is real mischief. The angry Thor might find himself actually embracing chaos through his anger!

Put it this way, Loki is in for more than a half minute pounding this time. But who wins ultimately? Stay tuned for Thor 4.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Episode 3 of Star Trek Continues, Fairest of Them All, has been released. I think it is by far the best of the three, and much better than the multimillion dollar movies in the Star Trek series.

Star Trek Continues is made on a shoestring rather than the multibazillion dollar movies from the parent franchise. But what sets apart the show is the writing. Kudos to James Kerwin and Vic Mignogna for this one. This episode takes place just after Kirk, Scott, Uhuru and McCoy were displaced in an evil parallel universe (in the original show episode "Mirror Mirror"). In that 1967 episode, good Kirk suggests that evil Spock should realize that the Terran Empire (i.e., the evil Federation) is headed towards an inevitable end, and should do something about it.

The new show follows evil Spock's dilemma to remain loyal to his evil Captain, while also recognizing the logic of good Kirk's admonition to resist.

It is a brilliant concept, and the script writing was excellent, avoiding some of the minor logical disconnects of the first two episodes.

In the evil universe, Captain Kirk is an oversexed member of the futuristic Tea Party, whereas Mr. Spock is a closet Liberal, and perhaps the only Democrat in the universe. How can Spock survive in a world in which the ruler of the Terran empire is a direct descendant of Sarah Palin?

The cast has really jelled for this episode. In particular, Todd Haberkorn gives an incredible performance as the evil Spock, while Vic Mignogna channels his evil Kirk side with equal intensity. The chemistry (or clash) between Kirk and Spock is absolutely terrific and causes both actors to step it up from what we had seen previously.

This is the kind of experiment that the movie studio would be terrified to undertake. Because the movies are now hundreds of millions of dollars, the studios abhor anything with an element of risk. Hence every Star Trek movie made in the future will have the same old bad guys, and the movie will end with a stock ending. I about choked when in the rebooted movie, Kirk dropped a nuclear bomb into the heart of the Deathstar, stealing from Luke Skywalker. Yech.

What's great about Star Trek Continues is that you have absolutely no idea what is going to happen next! You don't know what the bad guys are going to do, or even who's on who's side in this episode.

In the evil universe, Lt Smith (Kipleigh Brown) operates the helm and is forced to wear scanty clothing to please the males (exactly as in the good universe of 1967).

Asia Demarcos plays Lt. Marlena Moreau. In the evil universe, all beautiful women know how to navigate a Starship. Lt Moreau is also a Girlfriend for horny Kirk. Come to think of it, good Kirk is also incredibly horny. Maybe the two universes are closer than we think.